Steven Hamblin

Oh irony of ironies, I've caught a cold while participating in the Disease Zone.

Favourite Thing: My favourite thing to do in science is to find a question that no one has ever asked, and ask it! Science involves a lot of hard work, but that work is towards a goal of making new knowledge. When I’m done, hopefully humanity knows something that it didn’t know before, and I think that’s awesome.

My CV

School:

University:

University of Alberta, on and off graduating in 2005, studying computer science and finally psychology. M.Sc. in Psychology from the U of A in 2007; Ph.D. in Biology from the Université du Québec à Montréal, 2011.

Work History:

Employer:

Current Job:

Postdoctoral research associate, University of New South Wales in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences

Me and my work

I study questions about viruses, like how they evolve and why they do weird things to their hosts like turn them into ‘zombies’ (not the undead, but how they control the host against their will).

I’m an evolutionary biologist, so I ask a lot of ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions. Why do viruses mutate so fast? How do bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, and can we fix it before we get into real trouble? Viruses also do some strange things to the hosts that they infect, like make them really aggressive or turn them into zombies, and I’m interested in learning more about why that happens.

I’m a theoretical biologist, so I use reasoning, mathematics, and computers as my tools to study these questions.

Strangely, though I work on viruses and bacteria now, my background is in the study of animal behaviour; so, if you look on my CV, you’ll see that my title my studies were actually in a field called ‘behavioural ecology’. Behavioural ecology is the study of how evolution and ecology (the relationships between animals and their environment) have shaped animal behaviour.

What I'd do with the money

I’m a reasonably competent programmer and I’ve actually written apps for iOS previously; I would use the money to pay for high quality art and music for the game and for other costs associated with writing and releasing an app.

What's the best thing you've done as a scientist?

Tell us a joke.

Sports followed

Favourite team

Helpful Tips

Before you apply, take a look at our advice on filling out the application form, including writing the all important one sentence description of your work.

The 13/14 year old students are from all across the ability range, and prefer it if you use language they understand: deadly not pathogenic, find not identify, use not utilize.

Use imaginative language to describe your work, to grab the students’ attention by giving a real sense of what your work involves.

Show your one sentence desciption to someone else - not a scientist working in your field!

Scientists

I'm a Scientist is about giving school science students an insight into How Science Works, now science is a part of modern life and where their science qualifications might take them. It's therefore open to:-

Practising research scientists (in academia or industry), from PhD students upwards. This includes 'sciencey' jobs which aren't strictly speaking research - for example, a microbiologist testing samples for the Health Protection Agency would qualify.

The peer review process, science education, and science funding are also essential parts of the business of science. We are therefore also happy to include trained scientists who no longer research, but work in publishing or communicating science, in education, or in grant-giving. For example, journal editors, museum curators, grant managers, education officers. Although science teachers are a crucial part of preparing the next generation of scientists, I'm afraid we don't include teachers in this as it's about teenagers getting to talk to people they wouldn't get to normally.

We will also, in themed zones, sometimes include relevant experts in non-science fields who can add another perspective and deepen students understanding of the issues - for example, we included a bioethicist in our Stem Cells zone. Historians, sociologists, philosophers of science, policy-makers may also be relevant in certain themed zones.

Scientists will normally need to hold, or be studying for, a PhD. In some circumstances however we will waive this - for example, in one of our STFC zones we included a laboratory technician from ISIS, as they could give a different insight into the workings of a large scientific research facility.

It's impossible to write guidelines which cover every edge-case. If you are still not sure if you're eligible, but would like to apply, then please get in touch and we can discuss your background and give you some guidance.